Liquid-meter.



J. W. LEDOUX.

LIQUID METER.

APPLICATION FILED 1330.9, 1909.

Patented July 23, 1912.

INVENTU aka M JOHN W. LEDOUX, OF SWARTHMORE, PENNSYLVANIA.

LIQUID-METER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 23, 1912.

Application filed December 9, 1909. Serial No. 532,180.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. Lnooux, a citizen of the United States,residing at Swarthmore, in the county of Delaware and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Liquid-Meters, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention is a meterhaving improved means for differentiating liquidpressures and integrating the flow thereof.

In the preferred construction of my invention, liquid is displaced by adevice so shaped and operated that its movement, as also the movementsof coordinated parts, due to differential pressures exerted thereon by aflowing liquid, will be a simple proportion of the rate of flow.

The nature of my improvements is fully disclosed in the followingdescription and the accompanying drawings in illustration thereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of apparatusembodying my improvements, and Fig. 2 is a sectional elevationrepresenting modifications in the construction of the apparatus.

In the form of the apparatus shown in Fig. l, the conduit 1, providedwith the Venturi section 2 has its normal section 1 connected by a tube3 with the top of a closed mercury reservoir 4 and the throat 2 of theVenturi section connected by a tube 5 with the top of a stand pipe 6which extends through the top of the reservoir to a point near itsbottom, the top of the stand pipe being closed and its bottom beingopen. A cylindrical float 8 is immersed, to a greater or less extent, inthe mercury contained in the chamber 6 and is connected by a cord 9 witha sheave 10, fixed, within the chamber 6, on a shaft 11, which isjournaled in the bearings 6' and 6". A sheave 12 is fixed to the shaft11, exterior to the chamber 6, and has connected therewith, by a cord13, the counter-poise 14 for balancing the float 8. A beveled gear 15 isfixed on the shaft 11 and meshes with a beveled gear 16 having the hub16' journaled inthe bearing 17. A liquid displacing device 18, immersedto a reater or less extent in mercury contained in the chamber 19, has astem 20 with a thread 20 thereon with which the gear 16 engages. Thechamber 19 communicates, by a passage 21, with a chamber 22. A float 23rides in the mercury contained in the chamber 22 and is connected by acord 24 with a revoluble sheave 25 carried by the shaft 26. A cord 27connects a counter-poise 28 with the sheave 24 to counter-balance thefloat 23. A cam 29 is fixed relative to and revolves with the sheave 25,and a tappet 30 makes contact with the periphery of the cam, the tappetbeing carried by a lever 30 on the fulcrum 31 and thrown into contactwith the cam by the weighted lever arm 30. The tappet is Withdrawn fromthe cam, against'the stop 32, regularly, by a rod 33 having an eccentricconnection 33 with the gear 34 of a clock 35, the rod moving upwardlythrough the lever and having a head 33 for engaging therewith towithdraw the tappet. The lever 30 acts through a pawl 35 carried therebyon a gear train 36 which operates the register 374' a When there is noflow in the conduit 1, the mercury and the float 8 will be at theirlowest positions in the chamber 6, the device18will be submerged so thatits top is level with the surface of the mercury containing it, themercury in the chamber 22 and the float 23 will be in their highestpositions, the point of the cam 29 having the longest'radius vector willhave contact with the tappet 30', the lever 30 will be held inengagement with the stop 32 and the register 37 will be inactive. As theflow in the conduit 1 increases, the differential pressures communicatedthrough the conduits 3 and 5 to the chambers 4 and 6 causes the mercuryand the float 8 to rise in the chamber 6. The rising float 8 permits 1the weight 14 to revolve the shaft 11 and the engaging gears 15 and 16.The gear 16 acts on the thread 20 to elevate the rod 20 and lift thedevice 18, which results in the fall of the mercury and the float 23 inthe chamber 22 and the revolution of the cam 29 in the direction of thearrow thereon. The arm 30 is now permitted to rise so that it can beoscillated through an are which isa function of the distance the floatsand the cam have been moved, which due to the shape of the part 18, is asimple proportion of the change in the rate of flow in the conduit 1,and the register 37 is caused to integrate the flow.

In the modified form of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2, the shaft 11 hasfixed there on a pinion 40 and the float 18 has a stem 41 provided witha rack 41 which engages the pinion. The float 23 has a stem 42 which ismovable longitudinally'through the guide 43. A disk 44 has a sleeve 45which is revoluble on the shaft 42 and movable mercury in the chamber19, and the mer cury in the chamber 22 will elevate the float 23 so thatthe disk 44 will make contact with the center of the disk 46. In thisposition of the mechanism the register is inactive. As the flowincreases in the conduit 1, the mercury and float 8 rise in the chamber6 and the weight 14 acts through the cord 13 on the sheave 12 to revolvethe shaft 11 and the pinion 40, which acts through the rack 41 and stem41 to elevate the float 18. The mercury and the float 23 now fall in thechamber 22 and the disk 44 is Withdrawn from the center of the disk 46 adistance which is a function of the rate of flow. The revolutions of thedisk 44, which are a function of the flow, are integrated by theregister and the volume of flow determined.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In a liquid meter, a liquid chamber, a float in said chamber, a pairof communicating chambers, a float in one of said commu-, nlcatingchambers, a liquid displacing device in the other of said communicatingchambers, and mechanism movable by means of said float first named formoving said displacing device.

2. In a liquid meter, means comprising a device movable by varyingpressures, a pair of communicating liquid chambers, a displacing deviceadapted to be submerged to diflerent depths in liquid in one of saidchambers, mechanism whereby said device first named operates saiddisplacing device,

a device movable by means of the liquid in the second of said chambers,integrating mechanism and means whereby said last named device controlsthe operation of said integrating mechanism.

3. In a liquid meter, means comprising a device movable by' varyingpressures, a pair of communicating liquid chambers, a tapered displacingdevice adapted to be submerged to different depths in liquid in one ofsaid chambers, mechanism whereby said first named device varies thesubmergence of said tapered device, a device movable by the liquid inthe second of said communicating chambers, integrating mechanism, andmeans whereb said last named device controls the operation of saidintegral mechanism.

4. In a liquid meter, in combination with a liquid conduit, a liquidchamber, means whereby differential pressures are communicated from saidconduit to said chamber and, the liquid height in said chamber isvaried, a device in said chamber movable by changes in said liquidheight, a pair of communicating liquid chambers, a device movable ineach of said communicating chambers, means whereby said first devicemoves a device in one of said communicating chambers to change theheight of liquid and the device in the second communicating chamber,integrating mechanism, and means whereby said last named device controlsthe operation of said integrating mechanism, one of said' devices beingtapered so that the elevation of said last named device shall be asimple proportion of the rate of flow in said conduit.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my name this 6th day of December,1909, in the presenceof the subscribing Witnesses.

JOHN W. LEDOUX.

Witnesses:

ROBERT JAMES EARLY, C. N. BUTLER.

